Shelly Mathie

Served this at our family Christmas party and it is out of this world!!!!!! Make sure you allow plenty of time for the bread to soak – other family members made some too and theirs did not have the full time to soak and was more flat (still yummy though)…..

Ingredients:
1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1. Grease a 9×13 pan with butter. Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2. Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (I put mine in overnight….it was about 12 hours).
3. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it all looks nice and crumbly (like small pebbles, according to P-Dub). Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4. When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge. Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).
Notes:

You can serve with syrup, but we made a quick glaze with powdered sugar and milk. Delish!

NOTE: For the glaze: I used 2 cups powdered sugar and 4 T milk.

Originally found at: http://mormonmavens.blogspot.com/2011/11/baked-french-toast.html

I freakin’ LOVE Christmas! I love the decorations, the family traditions, and the good will demonstrated so freely during this season. My birthday, Christmas, and Anniversary also fall in December, thus explaining my obsession with Santa! I have nearly 100 Santas in my collection and love each one. Many have a special story behind them and the real “Christmas” to me is unpacking each one and putting them on display throughout my home. Please understand that I KNOW that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ – and I love Him with all my heart. I LOVE the things that Santa represents to me – giving without expectation (interesting that Christ did the same, no?), the element of surprise (gifts are wrapped up and NEVER divulged by the giver), Santa keeps a list of naughty and nice (I’m pretty sure someone else does too!), and he has an awesome face – filled with a special kind of beauty and love (thinking this also applies here). So grateful this time of year for a reason to stop and reflect and spread the love. Hope this finds you and yours doing the same!